Fleet Management KPIs: 23 Metrics To Track Performance
Not all KPIs are created equal.
Nor do they all deserve the same amount of attention. That’s true for fleet management as much as for any other business. The truly successful fleet managers, the kind that truck drivers celebrate by honking during the Christmas office party, are very picky about the KPIs they focus their effort on.
In this article, we will discuss what makes some fleet management metrics more important than others and will attempt to map how they influence one another.
What Are Fleet Management KPIs?
Fleet management Key Performance Indicators are specific metrics that help you understand the current state of your fleet, its past performance, and estimate its future performance. They’re your progress signals for your fleet management goals and objectives.
Though they’re not a novel concept, KPIs rely on accurate and reliable data to tell a story that reflects reality. While you’re reading this article, take notes on the data you lack to optimize your fleet’s performance and follow up with market research on available solutions (happy to help).
Leading vs Lagging KPIs in Fleet Performance Monitoring
Lagging KPIs give you the current state of your fleet. They reflect past performance and tell you whether you’ve done a good job or not.
Leading KPIs allow you to predict the future state of your fleet. They reflect current performance and tell you whether you’re on track to hit your goals.
Both kinds are vital to track.
As a leader, you care about the current state of the fleet (lagging metrics). But you should direct your focus and effort on your current performance (leading metrics). To do that, you must be able to tell which are leading metrics and which are not. There are two telltale signs of leading KPIs:
- They have predictive capabilities
- You can directly influence them
Predictive capabilities means that the performance of that KPI will allow you to predict whether or not you’re going to hit your goal for your lagging KPIs.
Direct influence means your team can decide to increase or decrease that KPI from one day to the next. It ties directly to action.
Example:
Lagging KPI: Meetings booked
Leading KPI: Calls made, messages sent, doors knocked
So let's see which of the most popular fleet management metrics are lagging and which are leading.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to make up your own leading KPIs. Every business has its own weaknesses, so if you find that a new behavior or action needs to happen regularly, start tracking it.
8 Leading KPIs You Can Directly Influence
How you measure these KPIs and your actual capacity to influence them determines whether each metric is “leading” for your business. Adjust as needed.
1. Preventive Maintenance (PM) Compliance Rate
Depending on how you measure it, PM compliance can help you predict downtime, repair costs, TCO, and unscheduled service ratio.
2. Scheduled vs. Unscheduled Service Ratio
Proactive service reduces unscheduled maintenance. This predicts downtime, repair costs, lifecycle inflation, and average downtime per incident.
3. DVIR (Inspection) Completion Rate
DVIR CR helps you understand scheduled/unscheduled maintenance, safety failures, breakdowns, downtime, compliance, defect detection, and DOT-related costs.
4. Risky Driving Events
Telematics reveals harsh braking, speeding, or other behaviors that correlate with fuel economy, accident rate, repair spikes, safety issues, and asset life.
5. Dwell Time per Location
Tracking trailer dwell time predicts turns, revenue velocity, and driver productivity.
6. Driver Productivity
Driver productivity influences cost per delivery, route profitability, revenue velocity, utilization, and cost per mile.
7. Preventable Safety Violations / Infractions
Helps identify internal weaknesses driving insurance costs, safety incidents, risk exposure, and breakdowns.
8. Average Miles per Driver
A workload balance indicator that can help predict turnover, overtime, and route optimization issues.
15 Lagging KPIs to Estimate Current Fleet Performance
If combined properly, lagging KPIs reveal powerful strategic signals.
1. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Shows long-term financial efficiency and lifecycle health.
2. Vehicle/Asset Cost per Mile (CPM)
Shows your true operating cost baseline.
3. Fuel Costs
Shows major CPM drivers and driver behavior quality.
4. Budget Adherence
Shows financial discipline and planning accuracy.
5. Vehicle Utilization Rate
Shows fleet sizing accuracy and operational planning quality.
6. Vehicle Replacement Targets / Lifecycle Status
Shows future capital needs and aging fleet risks.
7. Average Downtime per Incident
Shows repair process efficiency and fleet resilience.
8. Safety Incident Rate
Shows risk exposure, training gaps, and behavior issues.
9. Repair Costs (Total & Per Asset)
Shows asset abuse, age issues, and poor PM compliance.
10. Safety Incident Rate
Shows risk exposure and operational weaknesses.
11. Detention Hours
Shows customer efficiency and network friction.
12. Trailer Turns per Month
Shows asset velocity and constraint points.
13. Cost per Delivery / Load
Shows route profitability and customer-level economics.
14. Time to Repair
Shows availability, uptime %, and cost per mile.
15. Inspection Pass/Fail Rate
Shows violations, compliance costs, and downtime.
Bonus Tips: How to Get Other Departments to Care
Influence comes from incentives, not authority. Align your KPIs to theirs.
- 1. Align with their role’s incentives: Show how improving your KPI helps them hit goals.
- 2. If you can’t, appeal to personal preferences.
- 3. Create super-specific scenarios.
- 4. Don’t take rejection personally.
- 5. Remove friction from the process.
- 6. Show gratitude clearly.
- 7. Pay back goodwill.
To collect reliable data on routes, miles, utilization, and more, you need hardware that survives real-world fleet conditions. SkyBitz hardware is IP67-rated and engineered for consistent visibility across all assets.
Our SmartTrailer technology gives you location, movement, door activity, cargo status, volumetrics, dwell time, and idle patterns — all the signals you need to ask the right questions and fix what’s slowing the fleet down.
If you want to give your team the visibility they need to fix what’s broken, take a look at what SkyBitz can do for your fleet.